Azumanga Daioh! Season Two!
by Makale
Summary: Most of the girls are in different schools and some have left the city, but they all face new classes, clubs, and parttime jobs together. A few boys might even enter the Azumanga world... Some drama, some romance, but still the same big, silly heart!
1. College Begins

I do not own Azumanga Daioh! I am a dirty, dirty thief... but a very poor thief so please don't sue me.

**大学は始まる　****College Begins**

LU LA LU LA piano wa sekai no yumesaku rohana ni melody  
Kowareta tokei wo shinjite jikan wa dare no mikata?  
Doushite konna ni watashi no mune yasashii dareka wo matteruno?  
Oshiete sutekina mirai MOONLIGHT, MOONLIGHT SLEEPIN'  
LU LA LU LA omoide ringo ni mezame no shoujo ga kiss _shi – BEEP_ _(click)_

Yomi rolled over with a moan to turn off Tomo's cell phone alarm at the same time reaching for her glasses to read the face of it.

7:01 AM

She didn't know how Tomo could lie in the same room and sleep through that shrill, nonsensical wake-up tune. Yomi stretched a leg out of her covers and strained to kick at Tomo's futon which was stretched out a few feet away in the cramped room that they now shared. Yomi's kick failed to connect with anything satisfyingly resistant and as she groggily rubbed her eyes and peered across the room in the dim light of morning she saw with more surprise than she probably should have felt that Tomo was not there.

"That immature brat. She'd be late for her first day of classes if it wasn't for me. I ought to let her oversleep," she yawned even as she crankily pulled herself, quite disheveled, across the room to pull open the sliding door to their correspondingly tiny living room. Tomo was sprawled out with arms akimbo, snoring vigorously in front of the television bags of junk food and comic books sprinkled liberally about the floor.

"Ooooyyyyyy, teme," she growled loudly, doing her best Beat Takeshi impression. Tomo didn't flinch so Yomi kicked her a few times.

Tomo slowly opened her eyes, a quizzical look on her face. She noticed Yomi standing over her first and then took a look at the junk food she was lying in. She brushed some shrimp crackers off her stomach and then, tipping her head down to her chest and noticing a half eaten chocolate Pocky stick sitting right beneath her chin as though it had fallen out of her mouth when she dozed off, she reached up and finished it off in one bite. Yomi watched the whole scene with a grimace before finally Tomo grinned sleepily up at her and asked, "What are you doing up so early, you idiot?"

"You're the idiot!" Yomi screeched tackling Tomo and letting loose a string of complaints, _"itwasyouralarmthatwokemeupinthefirstplaceIshouldhaveletyouoversleepyouregoingtobelateanywayyouvegottocleanupthismess  
youmadewhatwereyouthinkingwatchingtelevisionallnightbeforeyourfirstdayandwhatdoyouthinkyouredoingeatingallofourfood…"_

Tomo slipped out of her grasp and bounded into the bathroom for a quick shower before she headed to the train station just leaving the door open a crack long enough to taunt Yomi by noting, "As far as eating all the food goes you should be thanking me; you look like you've gained a few pounds over the break Yomi-chaaan!" Tomo ducked inside just before a flurry of sheets and cookie boxes and chip bags and comic books crashed against the outside of the door.

Yomi, after a bit of grumbling, started to make herself breakfast and gradually cooled down. As she finished warming up her miso soup and boiling her tea Tomo streaked out of the bathroom and into their bedroom and Yomi could hear the crashes and thuds as Tomo tore apart the closet looking for something to wear. "You _are_ going to clean up this mess!" Yomi said, popping two slices of bread into the toaster, though she'd said it with more of a questioning tone than she had intended.

"I have to catch the train!" shouted Tomo. Yomi's toast popped up and she smeared each piece with a hefty dollop of raspberry jam. She hated to let Tomo get away with destroying their apartment and then tearing out leaving behind a wake of destruction, but if there was ever a day to be sure to be on time it was the first day so Yomi let it go with an exasperated sigh. "Itadakimasu."

In the instant that Yomi clapped her hands together Tomo flew by seeming to wolf down a piece of toast and Yomi's whole cup of tea in the same fluid motion that she leapt into her shoes in the hallway and opened the front door. Yomi managed to open her mouth just as the door clicked shut.

"Idiot."

**水原暦の幸運　****The Good Fortune of Mizuhara Koyomi**

Of course, Tomo wasn't the only one with classes to attend; Yomi just had the luck to get classes that didn't start quite as early. As a matter of fact, after her scare last year when it had looked for a little while like she might not even make it into any college _at all_, not only did she get accepted by her first choice (one of the most prestigious private universities in Tokyo) but she seemed to have lucked into the most enviable position of all her friends.

Everyone had thought when they graduated that they would all sadly be headed in completely different directions, but shortly afterwards Kagura had been contacted by the head of the athletics department at the university that had accepted Yomi and she was actively recruited. Although she had thought it impossible that she could meet the academic requirements for such a top-tier school, and had wondered even after the agent had met with her how she might pay their high tuition, thanks to the university's surprisingly earnest desire to have Kagura on their team roster she _somehow_ managed to scrape together a special dispensation and a scholarship that got her in. Yomi was ecstatic to find out that she'd be going to the same school as one of her friends at least. Then, of course, Tomo had managed to con her into living with her… but all in all that wasn't too bad either.

So, although her friends had still largely scattered and only the two most boisterous of Bonklers were left to share it with, Yomi felt like she was somehow providing the surviving core of their wonderfully quirky gang. Thinking such thoughts and inwardly grinning she headed to her first day of classes with high expectations.

Naturally, her first day was a complete disaster…

Although she had walked around the campus plenty of times after she had gotten her acceptance and although she knew exactly where the first room on her schedule was, she had nevertheless managed to arrive late when it turned out that the class had been moved last minute and she hadn't gotten the notice. She ended up walking awkwardly into the first class of her new college life keenly aware of all the eyes on all the heads that turned to look at her embarrassing entrance and took the only available seat, which of course sat at the dead center of the front row, practically butted up against the professor's podium. He did not look amused.

Shortly afterwards in the cafeteria she had begun to eat from the bento box that she had prepared for herself when she realized that no one else in sight had brought their own lunch. She didn't have the courage to finish her apparently conspicuous meal, but she was still hungry so she bought a second lunch of pork katsudon and ended up eating all of it despite the fact that she knew she was supposed to be on a 'no-fried-foods-diet.'

Finally, before her last class, which was located in a separate part of campus a ten minute walk away, she got caught halfway there in a brief shower that left her dripping wet for her final period. She remembered that although she had taken her umbrella this morning she must have left it on the train while in her fog of happier thoughts. She pictured herself from a few hours earlier…

Imaginary Yomi was beaming cartoonishly and a little dimwittedly as she got off the train. Imaginary Yomi still had her umbrella, however, until she turned around and tossed it back on the train just as the doors whooshed shut as if she had planned it all along and was now laughing hysterically at the plight of reality Yomi.

She told herself it was the result of too much katsudon, but she had felt small and out of place all day long and it came to Yomi all of the sudden that she might have made some terrible mistake – maybe she wasn't ready for college… She wondered if this was what Chiyo-chan had felt like on her first day in high school.

As soon as the thought occurred to her she felt ashamed of herself; after all, attending the first day of college the same as millions of others her own age across the country were doing that very morning was hardly the same thing that Chiyo-chan had gone through when she skipped five whole grades and joined a high school were she didn't have a single friend. And _that_ revelation brought her full circle to this morning when she realized how glad she was that Kagura, at least, was attending the same school as she. In fact, even as she had continued to brood over her problems she had been unconsciously walking toward the university pool facilities where she had agreed to meet Kagura that afternoon so that after the swim team's practice was over they could exchange takes on their first day as college students.

Yomi entered the main wing of the sports building and took the stairs down to the pool. Just as she was coming off the very last step, however, she saw something that made her jaw drop, her eyes grow saucer-sized, and her feet slip right out from under her. …It was a BOY.

In the first place, he was good-looking and in the second… _he was carrying Kagura in his arms._

Yomi hit the wet tile floor with a painful thud.

**神楽のボーイフレンド　****Kagura's Boyfriend**

Yomi's face remained frozen in shock throughout her tumble and for quite some time after. She was sure that the commotion her flamboyant entrance had caused would draw the attention of both Kagura and the boy who had scooped her into his arms, but while she drew stares from most everyone else Kagura and her mystery man remained oblivious. The two of them were laughing heartily before the boy rocked Kagura powerfully in his arms once, twice, and tossed her playfully into the pool trailing a loud laugh behind her! Whoever he was he was strong. In fact, as Yomi sat mesmerized by the scene she got a second, and in some ways even more powerful shock, when after the boy had leapt into the pool behind Kagura and they had splashed and tousled a bit they took off on a race. Actually at first, Yomi couldn't even put her finger on what was so surprising about that, but then all of the sudden it dawned on her.

Kagura as all her friends knew was nearly an Olympic class swimmer… and yet she was actually being beat! Not only that, but she was trailing by a fairly significant margin!

Yomi's mind snapped back into action with almost audible force. Countless questions assailed her in rapid succession. _Where had Kagura met this guy? He had to be older than she was, but how much? When did she have time to meet a boyfriend when she had spent so much time with their friends during their vacation? Why hadn't she told anyone? When had she become so flirtatious? He couldn't possibly be someone she had just met today, could he? And how could anyone out swim Kagura?_ Although Yomi knew how childish the feeling was, she felt a pang of jealousy. She hoped that Kagura had not simply come to school this morning to find handsome men falling all over her while Yomi had been made to feel awkward and overwhelmed from almost the moment she'd arrived at the campus gates.

Still, this last thought was quickly pushed aside by the excitement that she felt discovering Kagura's secret. She couldn't wait to torture Tomo with her newfound knowledge! But she realized too that that would only be fun for a short while and she would eventually need someone to gossip with. What would Chiyo-chan make of all this she wondered? Before she had time to wonder much further though she heard Kagura gaily call out, "Yomi, over here!"

Yomi looked up to see Kagura had now swum to the end of the pool where Yomi sat and was resting her chin on her arms which were folded over the pool's edge.

"I'm almost done here, I promise. Actually practice officially ended already and Jun'ichirō and I are just going to do another ten laps or so and then I can be in and out of the locker room in less than ten minutes."

Yomi, as if understanding, but only very slowly nodded, "Unh." Then, staring down at the tile floor softly questioned, "Jun'ichirō"

"Oh, that's right… sorry," started Kagura, "Jun'ichirō is _GARBLMFGHLMNN!_" And with that suddenly she disappeared as if snatched underwater from below at about the same time that the erstwhile mystery boy, Jun'ichirō emerged, smiling, and apparently keeping a firm hold on the wild torrent of thrashing arms and legs that Kagura had become. "Nice to meet you," he said simply but pleasantly.

Yomi jumped to her feet, as much out of the embarrassment caused by a cute boy's unexpected greeting as the need to avoid the splashing caused by the drowning Kagura.

"N-nice to meet you…" stammered Yomi bowing, then turning scarlet almost instantly.

There was a brief awkward moment during which Yomi caught herself staring at Jun'ichirō. He had a short black hair, a square jaw, and generally strong, serious features that were, Yomi thought, wonderfully incongruent with his bubbly personality. Another second, however, reminded her that Jun'ichirō no doubt saw only a girl who had eaten more than her share of fried food for lunch and she self consciously crossed her arms trying to determine the most casual way to hide her extra poundage.

"Did this loser tell you that I'm on the swim team too?" he asked, finally breaking the silence. Yomi simply shook her head. It occurred to Yomi that Kagura and Jun'ichirō must be very close already. From the way he spoke, he seemed to think Yomi already knew about their relationship when, in fact, she hadn't even known he existed until a few minutes ago…

There was another pause.

"Aa," Yomi pointed a finger at the water's now calm surface where Jun'ichirō still held Kagura.

"Oh… That's right," he recalled. He took a step back and Kagura floated to the surface in a manner reminiscent of a conversation they had all once with Osaka. For just a second Yomi began to seriously think that Jun'ichirō might have taken his joke too far, but before she could worry further Kagura exploded out of the water. Even while gasping for breath she managed to release a torrent of curses that accompanied her furious attack on the boy. "You're such a stupid jerk!" yelled Kagura. Nevertheless, Yomi could see that even as she rained blows upon Jun'ichirō she was smiling and her boyfriend, for his part, chuckled heartily, wagging his finger at her and with a tone of reproach teasing, "Hey, Kōhai must show respect…"

"Idiot," sighed Kagura finally, abandoning her revenge with a final splash in Jun'ichirō's direction. She climbed out and retrieved her towel from a bench near the entrance commenting over her shoulder, "I _was_ going to invite you to get a drink with me and my friend, but now that you're behaving like child I don't think I want you to come. You can just stay here and swim your last set of laps yourself."

Yomi had to suppress a giggle as she saw Jun'ichirō stick his tongue out in response as Kagura turned her back for a second. When Kagura had turned around and begun marching toward the locker room, however, he put on a more serious face. "I'm sorry," he cajoled, "How about if I promise to pay the check?"

Kagura continued into the locker room, but she called out from within, "We'll be at the place with the big red and white signboard across the street from the north gate. Don't take too long!"

**恵子　****Keiko**

Yomi nodded politely at the waitress who set down her oolong tea and looked enviously across the table at Kagura, who dug enthusiastically into a giant sundae. "You know," Kagura said in between heaping spoonfuls when she noticed Yomi's expression, "you can order whatever you want."

"No, I'm fine. I'm not hungry," Yomi muttered. In the first place, she naturally felt strange about letting Kagura's boyfriend pay for her food after they had just met. Secondly, she had eaten the better part of two lunches this afternoon and she almost started to explain as much to Kagura, but thankfully thought better of it. It wasn't just that she wanted to avoid a deserved round of reproach and quite a bit of teasing; she couldn't wait to ask Kagura about Jun'ichirō. She was dying to know how they had met and what it was like to have a real, serious boyfriend, and… well, she wanted to hear everything.

She just didn't know where to start. Instead of diving into the interrogation though, Yomi decided take a more round about approach. "I think Jun'ichirō is really cool."

Although Yomi had thought Kagura must have realized that Yomi would want to hear every detail about her friend's new romance Kagura's expression was a strange brand of surprise. First she scrunched up her forehead and squinted looking from left to right and back again as though looking for where such a query had come from. Then, even stranger, she made a sour face and said somewhat incredulously, "_Really?_"

Yomi was thrown for a moment. Perhaps Kagura was teasing. There seemed to be plenty of joking around between Kagura and Jun'ichirō. Then again, she thought, even if he isn't really her type she must like him for _some_ reason. "Well," she tried, "he's an incredible swimmer."

"Yeah," Kagura admitted somewhat begrudgingly, "but I'm improving a lot. Three years ago he was almost full minute faster in the thousand meters than me, but today I only lost by eighteen seconds. My goal is to beat him at least once by the end of the year."

Something about the way that Kagura had spoken was strange, but Yomi still couldn't figure out what exactly, so shaking her head she continued, "I just can't believe that you never told any of us about him…"

"_What?_" exclaimed Kagura, "That's ridiculous. Apparently, you all just weren't paying any attention." Taken by surprise and more than a little frustrated by the thought that her friends (and not just Tomo) had seemingly let such an important detail of her personal life go in one ear and out the other she had to take a moment to think back to the last time she would have talked to Yomi about her brother.

She recalled finally, that she had told everyone a few months ago all about how her brother had gone with her and her parents to Narita Shrine and been sick all the next day from eating too much takoyaki. "I told you about how I saw him for New Year's, remember?" she demanded, hoping that that, at least, would jog Yomi's memory.

Now it was Yomi's turn to be shocked. She didn't remember Kagura saying a word about spending New Year's with any boy, but more than that she just couldn't believe that Kagura had apparently been dating anyone for months if not longer without a word to her friends, so slamming her hands down on the table between them she rose and shouted almost angrily, "Just how long have you and this Jun'ichirō been going out, anyway!"

Kagura's eyes took up half of her face they had grown so large, whereas her mouth had formed a perfect o-shape that was the tiniest pinpoint in size. No one noticed Chiyo-chan's father float by with a tray of drinks.

….

"Heh heh"

"Tcha Ha Ha Ha Ha"

"_HO HO HO HO HA HA HO HO!_"

Tomo rolled on the floor gripping her sides and seeming as unable to breathe as she had been a half hour ago when her brother, Jun'ichirō, had held her underwater.

"What's going on?"

Jun'ichirō, having finished up his workout and finally having made it to the restaurant looked down at his sister still convulsing on the floor. Kagura took one look at her brother and it redoubled her hysteria.

"What is it that my little sister finds so funny?" he asked, turning to Yomi.

Finally… Yomi put it all together. She understood Kagura's laughter and she remembered Kagura telling everyone about the trip to Narita with her _brother._ She retraced the afternoon in her mind and realized that where she had thought she had seen obvious signs she realized now she had been filling in plenty of blanks on her own. And, of course, she was mortified to recall what she had just been saying to Kagura about her own brother. Trying to escape the embarrassment, she began to sink unconsciously in her chair trying to slip out of sight and, if at all possible, out of existence.

Jun'ichirō sat at the table as his sister's guffaws died down. "I'm glad that sis seems to be having a good time with you," he said, smirking over at Yomi. She smiled back weakly, still trying to establish firmly in her mind the idea that the boy sitting in front of her was Kagura's big brother.

When Kagura seemed to have laughed herself dry and was wiping the tears from her eyes her brother turned to her and asked, "Hey, Keiko, are you going to get up and join your friend and me, or shall I set your food down so that you can eat off the floor?"

"_Keiko?"_ thought Yomi to herself. Before she ventured to inquire about Keiko aloud, however, it occurred to her that, strange as it seemed, she wasn't sure just what Kagura's first name was…

Raspberry Heaven! Hitori janaitte yakusoku shitane Heaven  
Raspberry Heaven! Amai namida rakuen de mata hohoende  
Raspberry Heaven! Mukae ni kitano yasashii yume no Heaven!  
Raspberry Heaven! I'm coming back to you.  
Rakuen no hana saita hini kimi to futari futari de aimashou…

**作家から　****From the Author**

Here are some notes on why I'm writing this story and where I plan to go with it:

It is incredibly difficult if not simply impossible to capture the brilliance of Azumanga Daioh! in a strictly written format. The show's humor relies almost entirely on the visuals and the incredible work of the Japanese voice acting staff. Why, knowing this, I am still attempting to write this fanfiction I can't really explain, but I mention it in order to assure my readers that I am aware of this fact and hopefully reassure them that thusly aware I am perhaps better able to adjust accordingly than those authors who are not.

I have tried then to maintain the core of light-hearted fun that made the show great, but I also believe that the introduction of a few more dramatic elements is in keeping with the path that the girls of Azumanga Daioh! would probably take after their high school years together. In fact, within the show itself I think the later episodes tended more than the earlier ones towards a certain tone of sobriety and even elegant melancholy. Still, I'll do my best to keep my story funny and upbeat more often than not.

Now, a note on the story's romance: I am a sucker for cute, romantic fanfiction and it seems to me to be the single most popular reason that people get into writing it. When it comes to Azumanga Daioh, however, this poses a problem, because it presents the author who wants to include plenty of it with what are in my opinion two distasteful choices. On the one hand, one could simply pair all of the girls off. I honestly enjoy a good shojo or shonen-ai as much as the next guy, but I just don't see the basis for it in the Azumanga canon if for no other reason than that the Azumanga world, despite its sometimes bizarre presentation, is, when it comes down to it, the very average world of modern-day Japan and the odds of any six given Japanese high school girls having relationships with each other in Japan today are infinitesimal. I know, I know, we write fanfiction because we want to see "what if?" when the rules be damned, but I simply felt it more natural for whatever reason to go the other way and simply write in my own male characters. I owe a debt to the author of "Azumanga Daioh! Plus Six" for pointing out the existence of Ooyama Maasaki's frequent presence in the background of the original show, and I plan on gradually making him and perhaps one or two others into fairly major characters over the course of the story. Also, when I say gradually, I mean it! I've outlined about thirteen chapters so far, and if my first whole chapter is my average pace it should take about 40,000 words. If I get a good reaction to it all though, I might end up writing as much as another twenty chapters…

I will be writing under the assumption that none of the girls had any remotely notable relationships or even made close male friends during their three years in high school. One certainly gets that impression when they interrogate Nyamo at Chiyo's beach house, anyway. Also, I figure most of them were too busy studying for exams senior year at least. But now that they're in college and they have plenty of free time (and trust me, having spent a year at a university in Tokyo, they _do_ have free time there) they're bound to start dating in earnest. Still, don't be surprised if I sprinkle in a bit of yuri _somewhere_ along the line, although I should warn all the Kaorin fans out there that it probably won't come from her as she was my absolute least favorite character and after high school she moved to Cambodia or some equivalent locale as far as I'm concerned.

So, for everyone who like me simply couldn't stand to see the show end I hope you enjoy this story half as much as you did the original!

**説明　****Explanations**

_Always at the end of my stories I will add explanations of Japanese terms, sounds, situations etc. as well as the occasional obscure reference to the show just to make sure that even someone who's seen little of the show and anime in general can follow along_

1. "Oi, teme" literally means "hey, you" in English, but it is a very crude, insulting slang that would only be used by the sort of roughnecks and yakuza that Japanese actor, Beat Takeshi is famous for playing.

2. "Itadakimasu" literally means "I receive it" but its meaning has no direct equivalent in English. If anything it is similar to the grace which Americans say over meals. Japanese clap there hands together once and bow their heads slightly in a fashion also seen at shrines and take a moment to appreciate the work, human and divine, that brought the food to their table.

3. In episode thirteen Yomi calls Tomo, Kagura, and Osaka "Bonklers" because they celebrate their forgetfulness and later their poor marks. Frankly, I have no idea what this might be a reference to and I'm pretty sure there's no direct translation, but in context of the episode the meaning is clear. ADV translates the term as "knuckleheads."

4. In episode four Osaka says that she can't float, but Tomo is skeptical because, when people drown their bodies float to the top. Osaka believes, then, that she can float if she pretends to be a corpse.

5. Another untranslatable term, "kouhai" are younger, less experienced members of any group. The "kouhai" relationship to the "senpai" is taken very seriously in Japan. In college clubs "kouhai" do all the grunt work and if taken too far by an overzealous "senpai" it can seem like an unending parallel to fraternity hazing.

_**次の章：クラブ活動のフェア　**__**Next Chapter: Club Activities Fair**_


	2. Club Activities Fair

I do not own Azumanga Daioh! Though that I would be blessed with the genius of its creator and the bank account of its studios...**  
**

**爆裂している機械お化け　****Exploding Robot Ghosts**

Yomi stretched her arms up over her head, made an impressively tired sigh, and noted her page with a bookmark. Then, she set her paperback back on the shelf, stood slowly and made her way to the bedroom door she grumbled, "Good night. Try and be quiet if you're going to be playing that game all night long."

"Eeeehhh?" squealed Tomo, looking up from her new action-packed, super adventure, triple extreme video game. The moment she did her player was blasted by twelve attacking robot ghosts and Tomo furrowed her brow in annoyance, snapping, "It's only eleven o'clock and tomorrow's Saturday! What are you doing going to bed so early?"

"I toooold you," said a tired and exasperated Yomi as she rolled her eyes. "Tomorrow is the spring activities fair and I waaaahhh…" Yomi let out a lengthy yawn. Tomo hurriedly scrawled an 8.6 on her notebook and held it up, but Yomi ignored her and continued, "And I wanted to join a club this year because we don't have as much studying to do these days, and because I don't want to spend all my free time this year playing video games with you."

Tomo leapt to her feet and pointed a finger accusingly at Yomi, "A-ha! I understand! You're afraid of my Sugoi Geemu Pawaa!"

Yomi only offered Tomo a half second of her blank stare before slamming the sliding door closed and collapsing onto her futon.

Tomo, disappointed, gave a small shrug and returned to her video game determined to set a new high score before she fell asleep. By the time she drifted off around three in the morning she had achieved her goal easily and dreamt contentedly of exploding robot ghosts and pummeled pirate ninjas.

Eventually, the late morning sun streaming through the blinds woke Tomo who was still lying in front of her television and game console curled in a ball like a cat on top of a pile of laundry that had spilled from an overturned basket. Tomo sat up licking her lips, but ignoring the sock that clung to her hair as she made her way to the refrigerator for something to drink.

She could tell that Yomi had already left the apartment without even checking the bedroom. As she sat on the floor with her lips stuck to the tiny plastic yogurt drink bottle Tomo began to find the silence unbearable.

Then, surprising even herself, she suddenly sprang from the floor and flew through the air in slow motion, her arms wide and a trail of sparkling water droplets and still the lone tube sock dancing in her flowing hair. She landed in front of the full length mirror they had set by the entrance and stared at her reflection. A short pause… and then, as if drawing two imaginary guns from their holsters, she pointed at the girl on the wall and grinned.

"Getsu!"

…

Okay, Tomo, decided. "I am officially bored."

**いい食べ物・いい音楽　****Good Food, Good Music**

Yomi came in the west entrance gate and smiled to see the dozens of booths that lined each side of the broad walkway. From the west entrance to the east, perhaps a hundred yards, and from the north entrance southwards even slightly further, students milled about chatting excitedly and investigating the colorful displays that stood at every turn. Drama Club, Hip Hop Dance Club, American Movies Club, French Appreciation Club, Political Issues Club… It all centered around the crossroads of the two main paths where for the moment there stood four or five students setting up sound equipment apparently preparing for a performance.

Yomi also noticed right away that she would not go hungry at the activities fair. There were booths selling noodles, booths selling takoyaki, booths selling all sorts of okonomiyaki, and booths selling cold dishes like rice balls, anpan, and bento set lunches. She had strictly kept to her new no-sweets-diet for a whole week so she had rewarded herself and decided that she could afford to splurge a little and had calculated exactly how many calories worth of food she could eat without undoing all her hard work. She surveyed the smorgasbord before her and did a quick mental tally, and even though it probably cut her surplus in half by a conservative estimate the smell of freshly made korokke was too much to bear and she handed over four hundred yen, savoring each warm, delicious bite.

Yomi was more than a little impressed by the festive chaos she surveyed. On the one hand, the annual culture festival put on by her old high school was every bit as varied and colorful as this, but on the other hand there was something a little more polished about the presentation of these clubs (after all, these kids had put on their own culture festivals and had a few years experience since to help improve upon their efforts). It was not only that, however, but the idea of committing herself to a new hobby and some new friends that excited her and made this fair seem somehow different.

She remembered telling Tomo one night just how much she wished that she could be like Kagura, who showed what seemed to Yomi like an almost supernatural, tireless dedication to her swimming. Kagura seemed to think that it was nothing special; she said it was simply a matter of loving what she did. Yomi didn't love _anything_ that much, but she wanted desperately to learn to discipline herself. She had even asked Kagura if there was a swim club in addition to the school's official swim team. She hoped that perhaps if Kagura really loved it that much she'd humor Yomi and join the club just to keep Yomi company and maybe some of her work-ethic would end up rubbing off.

Unfortunately, Yomi learned, since swimming was an individual sport they didn't have a club for it, but there was certainly no shortage of sports clubs. There was a soccer club, a ping pong club, a volleyball club, an American football club, a lacrosse club, a badminton club, and on and on… And since Kagura could see that Yomi had really been hoping to have some support she assured her that they could meet up at the fair and look at some of those clubs to see if there was one they could join together.

What Kagura couldn't see, however, was that through a swim club Yomi had also secretly hoped to see more of Kagura's brother, Jun'ichirō. When Kagura suggested that they could still join one of the sports clubs together she had wanted to know if Jun'ichirō was in any of them. She knew that captaining the swim team must take up even more of her brother's time than it did Kagura's, but Jun'ichirō struck her as the type who liked to keep busy. Still, she couldn't bring herself to actually voice her question as she was still too embarrassed over what had happened on their first day of school, so she had decided just to keep an eye out for Jun'ichirō – their school was small enough that she felt fairly sure that if he came to the fair that afternoon she'd run into him sooner or later.

For the moment though she relaxed upon a bench, eating her korokke and listening to the band. She finished her snack just as they finished playing a song by one of her favorite idol groups called "The Sole Flower on This Planet." She was getting up to go look for Kagura and/or Jun'ichirō when the next band came on stage and she was almost knocked back into her seat by the wave of sound that blasted her from the nearby speakers. The cheery sing-song favored during the set by the previous band was replaced by an obnoxious, deafening wail. "_ORENJI NO SURAIDO the sky that reflects SUPONJI NO PURAIDO being dangled… SPAIDAAAAAH!_"

It sounded almost like…

Yomi pushed her way to the front of the crowd. Had it been anyone else she would have said to herself, "_I don't believe it._" Instead, as usual, she said simply, "_Idiot._"

She was furious with Tomo. What did she think she was doing barging in on the fair when this wasn't even her school like she was on a personal mission to ruin Yomi's life. Part of her wanted to jump on stage and throttle her right then, but she couldn't beat up her friend in front of so many people. It didn't matter to Tomo if she looked like a fool when she didn't know anyone here, but Yomi had to attend classes for another four years with these kids. So, teeth gritted she slunk away head down with her hand shielding her eyes. She thought for a second that Tomo might have spotted her, so she tried to cover even more of her face and crouch even lower to slip into the large crowd, but unable to see just where she was going she smack into a boy in the back and almost fell over. "Excuse me," she said as she wobbled a bit on her feet.

The boy reached out to steady her and she would have thanked him too if she hadn't realized at that moment that it was Jun'ichirō whom she had bumped into. "Are you all right?" he asked. Then, when he saw from her expression that they had met before he went on, without giving her a chance to answer, "Oh, wait a minute! We've met, haven't we? You're Keiko's friend, right?"

For a split second Yomi forgot that he meant Kagura, but though her heart was practically fluttering right out of her chest her head came back to her much more quickly than it had the first time they had met. Then Yomi, flattered when she realized that he had remembered her, blushed and perhaps a bit too enthusiastically chirped, "Yes!"

He smiled and nodded. "Your name's… Yumi, isn't it?"

Yomi deflated a bit. "Ummm… My friend's call me Yomi actually, but…"

"Yomi-chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!"

Yomi's eyes went wide with fear.

Tomo came up and slapped Yomi hard in the back. "Ay am za numbaah won singaah. Sank yuu…"

Tomo expected Yomi to attack her and stood waiting for their signature feud to commence. Jun'ichirō, stood there unsure of whom to ask about what was going on. A silent moment slipped by and Tomo realized that she wasn't getting the reaction she usually did.

"Ooooyyyy," she said. Yomi looked away and Tomo pursed her lips. Tomo assumed a silly face and pretended to talk like Yomi, "Hello, Tomo-sama, you are the super best number one. I am super dumb and wish I were like you. Please poke me in the belly." Tomo poked Yomi twice. "Squish, squish."

Until that moment Yomi had been blushing a violent shade of crimson. In a flash, the red that had been all over her face became concentrated in her scowling eyes that now pulsated with an indescribable power. With a move so fast that it could scarcely be seen she slapped Tomo's hand away and pinned her with a stare. Transfixed with terror, Tomo's eyebrow twitched slightly.

The instant had seemed an eternity to the terrorized Tomo, but even as she began her silent prayer she realized Yomi had turned from her to the boy and was pleasantly introducing her. "Please excuse my friend, she is very energetic sometimes." Yomi bowed slightly.

"No, no," laughed Jun'ichirō, "That's fine." He turned to Tomo and ventured, "It was very… interesting. So, you were the one singing on stage just a second ago?"

Tomo thrust out her hand signaling victory with her fingers. "That was me! Takino Tomo, world's greatest idol!" And she was on the verge of making a crack about anyone seeming like a great singer compared to Yomi when she caught a glimpse of the earlier death-glare out of the corner of her eye and swallowed hard instead.

"Oh… by the way," said Tomo to Jun'ichirō, "Who are you?"

**スーパー・パンプキンズ・テニス・クラブ　****Super Pumpkins Tennis Club**

It had been a truly fantastic afternoon. Yomi, Tomo, and Jun'ichirō had found Kagura at the Ping Pong Club's booth playing a heated match. Tomo, of course, had disrupted it. Yomi was just glad to have her annoying someone else. When Tomo heard that Kagura's first name was Keiko and that, even better, she preferred not to have anyone call her by it (she thought it was too common) she spent the whole afternoon teasing her about it.

Now it was late in the afternoon and they had visited nearly every booth at the fair. Yomi had been particularly excited to find that there was a Cheerleading Club at the university, but Kagura had not been nearly as keen. Yomi still signed the mailing list just in case, but later they talked to the lacrosse club and had both agreed that it seemed like a lot of fun. They hadn't made up their minds yet, but the more unusual sport appealed to them because it occurred to them that there would be few members who would have had the opportunity to play much if at all before college and so Yomi and Kagura wouldn't find themselves all that far behind even as new inductees. Sadly, Yomi noticed, Jun'ichirō hadn't shown any particular interest in any of the clubs.

Though Tomo had been fairly well behaved, and had kept from provoking Yomi directly since Yomi had frightened her earlier, Yomi was still somewhat irked to see Tomo sign her name to the list of every club they talked to. When Tomo signed herself up for the Poetry Club Yomi sighed, but she knew that she'd never let the day end if she had it in her power. Unfortunately Yomi caught Jun'ichirō looking at his watch which read 4:40 and knew that it would soon have to. In fact, Jun'ichirō seemed just on the verge of excusing himself from everyone when someone called out his name and he turned to greet them.

"Daisuke!" he exclaimed. The two boys clapped each other on the back.

"I kept my eye out for you, but I haven't seen you at our booth all day," said the boy.

"What's your club, again?" asked Jun'ichirō.

"We're one of the tennis clubs," he began, "but we go out drinking together as often as we practice… so, of course I naturally thought off you!" The two boys laughed loudly.

"What do you say?"

Jun'ichirō rubbed the back of his neck and looked like he was about to politely decline, but his friend saw this and cut in again, "Look, I know that you're pretty busy this year, 'oh captain my captain' – but you wouldn't have to come to every practice. Come every Friday... Come every other Friday! I know we don't live together anymore, but I don't want to worry about you all the time; you'll work too hard and turn into a boring salary man if you don't spend time with your old friends." He saw Jun'ichirō waver and turned to the girls. "Hey Keiko, tell your brother he needs to join my club."

While Daisuke was talking Yomi realized that, if nothing else, it would prolong for just a little while longer their afternoon together and interrupting Kagura blurted out, "You should at least take a look at the booth, Jun'ichirō."

The boys looked a little surprised, but Daisuke gave her an enormous grin. "That's right. So come on buddy, I know you never disappoint the ladies."

"No, I can't do that…" smiled Jun'ichirō softly.

Yomi, following behind, blushed red for the umpteenth time. Tomo bounced next to Kagura bringing up the rear. "Keikokeikokeikokeikokeikokeikokeiko…"

At the south end of campus, as they approached the booth Daisuke yelled out, "I brought him everyone! Tell him that you want him to join!"

The Super Pumpkins Tennis Club, resplendent in their orange jackets, performed a little cheer for their group.

Yomi liked the club right away, but politely listened to the younger members as they explained why their club was the very finest. Still, no one had mentioned anything that gave her the first clue about why they had chosen such an unusual moniker and after a few minutes of pondering she gave in to her curiosity and asked Daisuke privately, "Why does the group call itself the super pumpkins?"

Daisuke replied with a deadpan look, "Well, we tried calling ourselves the plain-old boring pumpkins but people didn't find that very exciting."

By the end of the afternoon they had all become Super Pumpkins. Jun'ichirō was finally convinced that despite his other commitments he could spare most of his Friday afternoons and evenings after all. Yomi, naturally just wanted to be near him. Kagura saw an opportunity to compete with her brother at a sport in which he wouldn't have three years of a head start. Tomo just liked giving away her signature which she figured must be worth something someday since, after all, she was the world's greatest pop idol.

**作家から　****From the Author**

I feel like I've rushed this one perhaps because I just wanted to get everyone set up and provide a stable reason for three of the girls' frequent interaction. However, if you think I've forgotten about Chiyo, Osaka, or Sakaki you're crazy! In fact, I prefer that trio to the one I've been writing about so far. I know I won't have time to write as much as I have the past few days for a while, but I promise if anyone ever gets impatient for an update, I'm even more impatient myself. I look at stories that some have written that are 100,000 words long and I just boggle at imagining how long that took. Still, as I've outlined things right now this story won't start to get _really_ juicy until chapter eight or nine! I want lots and lots of feedback though about what everyone thinks. How does this chapter compare to the last? Is everything believable so far, especially my characterization of the girls? How's the humor? What do you think about Yomi's crush on Jun'ichirō? What do you think about Jun'ichirō himself? I'm new to this site and fanfiction in general, but I don't like to do anything halfway, so my modest goal is to be the most prolific and widely acclaimed author on the site. I want everyone reading to breathlessly await the next installment and tell all their friends to get into this fanfiction stuff and this "Makale" especially. Also, this is probably so far off that I shouldn't even tantalize anyone with it, but I have big, big plans for other stories as well; the only one I'll mention right now is a Cowboy Bebop tale that will blow your mind…

**説明　****Explanations**

1. I thought about just writing "whaaaaat?" instead of "ehhhh?", but I don't think that captures the feeling that the noise the Japanese make in these situations expresses. It's just such an exaggerated cartoonish sound with a distinct rising pitch. Maybe I'm being a lingual snob here, but I think it's quintessentially Japanese.

2. In episode nineteen Osaka yawns and everyone (except for Yomi who thinks it's stupid) decides that it's a great yawn and they want to practice yawning like that. Still, the habit grows old, but Tomo continues to rate everyone's yawn long after others have moved on.

3. Tomo uses a lot of badly pronounced English phrases when she's being hyperactive, so I just wanted to keep that sense of bastardized linguistics by writing her in a sort of Romanized katakana when she does that.

4. Sakano Kenichi, a Japanese comedian, became famous as Dandy Sakano by inventing a nonsense phrase, "Getsu" or "Gets" in which he poses exactly like I've described and grins goofily. I always find it hysterical.

5. I'm not going to describe all of the foods that I use in the story. You know they're food. You can look them up.

6. This is a special interactive part of my story that I might try again if it goes well. The song that Yomi listens to and enjoys before Tomo shows up is titled based on a real Japanese pop song that I have cleverly or perhaps not-so-cleverly disguised and for the first person who e-mails me the real title and the group that sang it I promise to try and write that person in as a cameo (even if you have to wait a chapter or two or three for me to find a suitable spot). To be fair everyone only gets one guess, so make it a good one. Your only hint is that it has absolutely nothing to do with The Pillows or "Ride on Shooting Star"…

_**次の章：アメリカへ　**__**Next Chapter: To America**_


	3. To America

**黄金週間　****Golden Week**

Tsukurimashou ------ Let's make something  
Tsukurimashou ------ Let's make something  
Sate, sate nani ga --- Well, well what is it  
Dekiru ka na… ------ I can make I wonder?…

Mihama Chiyo was in particularly high spirits this Saturday morning as she whipped up the lemon custard for the tart she was making with Sakaki-san. Today was the first day that all of her friends had been able to get together since Osaka had left to attend a school back in her old hometown.

Chiyo remembered how she and Osaka had been unable to keep from crying. In fact, by the time Osaka's train pulled out of the station they were wailing almost uncontrollably and waving sadly to each other though their arms wiggled like jelly. Everyone had been pretty upset. Kagura cried a little herself, and although Yomi and Sakaki might not have known how to show it, Chiyo knew that they were just as sad to see their friend leave as she was. Even Tomo, who tried to lighten the mood by boasting that thanks to Osaka's departure she was once again the undisputed Manzai comedy champion, was rather subdued and could only smile weakly at her own joke.

Chiyo knew it was only a short-lived visit and in just a few months she would be leaving for good herself to attend a university in the United States, but with her indomitably positive attitude, that just made Chiyo even more determined to make the most of this precious time together.

Actually, even though the others had all chosen schools in the city they had all been so busy that she had seen little more of them than she had seen of Osaka, so looking forward to the ohanami they had all planned to go out for today, she had worn the same smile, as wide as it was unbearably cute, all morning long.

"I'm really glad that today we can be together with all of our friends again, aren't you, Sakaki-san?" she asked brightly, looking up at the tall girl beside her, who seemed, as usual, to be lost in a daydream as she absentmindedly stemmed a basket of strawberries. Sakaki, in her usual warm, if reserved, way simply looked down at her friend, smiled, and gave a nod of agreement.

They had just begun making the next dish Chiyo had planned for their elaborate little feast when she heard the doorbell. "Ah! That must be Yomi and Tomo!" said Chiyo excitedly, jumping up from the table and rushing to greet them with Sakaki following behind. "Good morning!" she sparkled, opening the door and beaming even more cutely than usual.

"Ah, good morning Chiyo-chan! Morning, Sakaki-san," said Yomi, who stood on the doorstep providing an apparently necessary support for Tomo, as her friend, draped awkwardly over her shoulders, seemed to be still half-asleep.

"Mooorniiiiing… Zzzzzzzzzzzz…" snored Tomo while, with Sakaki's help, Yomi dragged her inside.

Tomo's hair was a mess and although she had on a T-shirt and sneakers she was still wearing her pajama bottoms, the bright yellow ones covered in little cartoons of the Magical Land mascot. Chiyo gave Yomi a questioning glance. Yomi understood her look and explained, chuckling, "Oh, that's right… She was so tired she wouldn't even get dressed this morning, but I didn't want to be late and leave all the work to you and Sakaki. Don't worry; I have a pair of pants for her in my knapsack."

Chiyo looked down disapprovingly at Tomo and shaking her head scolded, "That's no good, Tomo-chan…"

Yomi and Sakaki laid her down next to Mr. Tadakichi and Maya, who had been curled up on the floor rug together since Sakaki had brought Maya over that morning. The cat looked up skeptically for a moment at her new napping companion (it was the annoying one she saw), but eventually she grew accustomed to the girl and closed her eyes again allowing Tomo to nestled up to them both.

Sakaki was overwhelmed for a moment to see Tomo in her cartoon pajamas sleeping with Mr. Tadakichi and Maya like they were a pair of adorable stuffed animals. She pulled herself away, however, when she realized that while she was distracted Yomi and Chiyo had already made their way back to the kitchen to continue fixing the food. As Sakaki slipped into the kitchen herself and went back to rolling pickled plums into several rice balls, Chiyo was asking Yomi what it was like to be in college now.

Yomi responded that it was new and mostly interesting and exciting and she enjoyed being so independent and getting a chance to try so many new things now that she wasn't so consumed with entrance exams.

"Like with your tennis club?" threw in Sakaki.

"Yeah…" sighed Yomi with a wistful look in her eye. Then, as though suddenly reminded of something, she said somewhat apologetically, "I'm sorry that Kagura and I won't be here when Osaka goes back home at the end of the week, but the trip did sound like a lot of fun… We're staying in a minshuku near Mt. Fuji. And, anyway, we didn't want to be the only first-years to not go,"

"It's okay," smiled Chiyo, "I'm glad that everyone is having so much fun in school. It feels a little strange being at home now, but I've been spending a lot of time studying English and even though sometimes it still feels like a long way away, but then sometimes it feels like I'll be leaving very soon."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," mused Yomi and Sakaki agreed as well.

Yomi felt the mood needed to be lightened, so rather enthusiastically she asked, "Well, have you decided which school you want to go to, at least?"

Chiyo had applied to eight of the very best schools in the US and five of them had accepted her. Two of them had even offered to give her a full scholarship!

"Yep!" Chiyo pipped. "But I want to wait until we meet Osaka and Kagura at the park to tell everyone…"

**新幹線　****Bullet Train**

Kagura had only been waiting at the station a few minutes when she saw Osaka coming off the escalator, pulling a rolling suitcase along behind her. "Hey, Osaka!" she shouted merrily.

"Ah! Kagura, Kagura!" shouted her strange friend, looking around the crowded station for a few seconds before actually spotting Kagura and raising one hand in greeting. "I couldn't recognize you…" said Osaka.

"Couldn't recognize me?" started Kagura, confused and a little hurt. At first she thought that perhaps Osaka had begun to forget what she looked like in a mere matter of weeks, but then realizing what Osaka meant she smiled. "…Ahhh, because I'm really tan again, right?"

…

"Oh… you are, huh?" replied Osaka, in a tone that from anyone else would have left Kagura wondering whether that had actually been the reason after all, but that in Osaka's case simply signaled that her mind had suddenly taken an impromptu detour. As if to prove the point, before they hopped a local connecting train to Osaka's house where they would drop off her things and then go to meet the others at the park, Osaka said she needed to get something at the station kiosk. "I forgot to take some gum with me on the shinkansen, so my ears are all stuffed up."

"Really?" said Kagura. "I thought that only happened on airplanes because of the change in altitude."

"Ah!" gasped Osaka. "I think you're right… I guess my ears aren't stuffed up then…" she said, smiling happily at her deduction and putting the gum that she had just selected back on the shelf.

As the two girls took the stairs down to the Yamanote platforms they naturally began to talk about their first few weeks in college. Osaka had passed her second round of exams, but her options had been fairly limited and also, like most of them, finances played a certain roll in her decision. In the end, she went with a two-year program at an all-girls school that her mother had attended when she was Osaka's age and that was near enough to her uncle's home that she could live with him and his family and commute easily. Osaka had liked the idea of being a teacher, as Chiyo had suggested, but her family was fairly traditional and felt that it would be best if she was first prepared to work as an OL or a shop manager. Still, nothing was set in stone and her mother had told her that if she still wanted to, in two years she could apply for a transfer.

Osaka gave no indication that she was unhappy with her arrangement, but Kagura wondered if Osaka could really be satisfied with such a plan. As their train pulled into the station, crowded even more than usual with holiday commuters, Osaka, as if reading her friend's thoughts, concluded, "I really miss you and Chiyo and everyone, but there are things I really like about being back in my hometown too, and it makes my parents happy that I'm going to school there…"

Kagura was surprised to hear Osaka speak so earnestly, but even more surprised when she realized that, as different as she was from her unusual friend, it seemed they had one thing, at least, very much in common. As they found a place within the press of the train, however, she grinned mischievously and asked what was really the most important question of all. "That's great, Osaka… but do you think you can cope with going to an all-girls school for two whole years?"

"Wellllll…" reflected Osaka, "Some of my new friends complain about it all the time, but I didn't really mind not having any boys around the last three years, so I figured another two years wouldn't make much of a difference."

Kagura blinked twice.

…

"Say, Osaka."

"Mmm?"

"You know, _there were boys_ in every one of our classes, right?"

"Eh! No way!" Osaka cried, mouth agape. She was shocked.

…

The rhythm of the train's clack-clacking filled the silence and Osaka muttered softly to herself, "What do you know?..."

Finally, Osaka turned to Kagura and asked, "Hey, hey, Kagura… You know what I realized while I was riding the shinkansen back into the city?" Kagura shook her head. "The shinkansen was built in 1964…"

"Uh… Yeah?" she prodded, wondering what this could possibly have to do with boys – then, immediately, doubting that there was, actually, any connection.

"But the character for 'shin' means new… How old do you think it has to be before they change the name? Do you think they'll call it kokansen or maybe toshi ga aru kansen?"

Kagura was glad to have Osaka back, even if only for a few days…

**親切な智　****The Kind-Hearted Tomo**

It was a perfect day at the park.

Chiyo looked up at the sun which shone brightly amongst a few wisps of puffy white clouds that drifted lazily through the pure blue sky, pushed by the same cool breeze that now and again gusted through the trees and scattered a few handfuls of colorful blossoms on the happy picnickers below. Though it had been a late cherry blossom season, a rare few could be found here and there amongst the dogwood, lilac, and azalea. For Chiyo, however, the people were the primary attraction. Mothers and fathers with small children, young couples in love, and salary men toasting to each other and to the future – everyone seemed to be invigorated by the newness of spring, thought Chiyo. Everyone and everything looked simply beautiful.

"Whoa! Flowers! There are flowers!" yelled an excited Tomo, now thoroughly rested, as she ran through the park leaping up and down and trying to catch as many flowers as she could whenever any of them wafted nearby, carried by the wind. The other girls selected a spot up a slight slope from a small pond away from the main entrance and began to lay out their things.

Their place had been set, the girls were just starting to relax, and Chiyo was pouring them all some tea when Tomo caught up with them and tossed a handful of her flowers into the air yelling, "Banzai!" Most of the flowers, probably according to Tomo's intention, rained down on Yomi's head, who had just sat down to take the cup Chiyo was offering. Before she could even open her mouth, however, a twinkling laugh from someone much too young to be Tomo was heard.

All four of the girls turned towards the sound which came from Sakaki's direction and noticed a small boy, maybe five years old, who crouched, knees close to his chest, with the mischievous curiosity of early childhood. "Hey kid!" called out Tomo.

He looked up with wide eyes as Tomo picked one of the prettier flowers off the ground and held it out to him. The child offered her what would have been a very toothy grin had he not been missing a couple. He ran up to snatch the blossom from her hand and ran just as quickly away, back to a woman, most likely his mother, who reclined on a blanket a few spots away and who smiled over at the girls when her son returned to flop down beside her.

Though Tomo sat down and stuffed a piece of cake in her mouth as though nothing had happened, Sakaki voiced everyone's surprise. "Wow, Tomo-chan… that was really nice of you. You're really good with kids."

"Yeah…" agreed Yomi, even more surprised than Sakaki.

Chiyo, on the other hand, said nothing. She could see that Tomo was embarrassed to have everyone making such a big deal out of her small gesture, as if everyone didn't already know that deep down Tomo was as gentle and kind-hearted as any one of them. Instead, when Tomo finished her piece of cake and strained her arm over the spread to reach for another Chiyo lifted up the plate for her and, catching her eye, smiled. Tomo gratefully smiled back.

The girls shared a few more moments of silence, staring out over the pond at the trees, at the sky, and at the several groups of strangers they shared it all with, as colorful in their way as the flowers blooming throughout the park. Finally, Chiyo got a call from Osaka and Kagura who had made it to the park's entrance and wanted to know where they could find everyone.

**お花見の発表　****Announcement at the Ohanami**

Chiyo was so happy to see Osaka that, even though she knew how silly it was, she cried a little again and was on the verge of breaking down as badly as she had when Osaka left, but Tomo quickly split the two of them up. "Not so fast, Chiyo-chan!" she shouted. "I know that everyone thinks that I will relinquish my title of Manzai comedy champion just because Osaka has returned…"

"No one is thinking that," snapped Yomi angrily, trying to cut her off, but of course Tomo ignored her.

"But I refuse to let you take my title without a challenge! I am still the champion, and I will not lose!"

So, immediately, Osaka and Tomo began trading jokes and riddles and just like that they were all back together for an afternoon as if nothing had changed and as if they had not drifted apart at all. It was just what Chiyo had hoped for.

Finally, it looked as if the contest was coming to an end as Tomo, with a tone of desperation, asked a final riddle that had the rest of them stumped. "What can go up a chimney down, but not down a chimney up?"

Osaka, however, as the others expected, answered the same as she had with all the others that Tomo had put to her, almost as a reflex that came without thinking. "An umbrella."

"Ahhh… Just as one would expect from the former champion," sighed a dejected Tomo. Still, she consoled herself by noting, "Of course, it's not really a fair contest since you've been training for weeks in Osaka…"

"Speaking of riddles," interrupted Yomi, "I've got a riddle for Chiyo that I've been wanting to know the answer to." Everyone turned a curious ear to hear what it could be as she continued, "You said you'd tell us when everyone was here, so I want to know where it is we'll be sending you when you leave for America."

"Ah! So, you finally decided where you want to go?" asked Kagura.

Chiyo nodded.

"So?..." prodded an impatient Yomi, "I bet you're going to an Ivy League school, right?"

"I.V.?" interrupted Tomo. "What does that stand for?"

"Isn't it another way of saying 'four?'" asked Osaka.

"What does _that_ mean? What happened to one, two, and three league?" countered Tomo.

"If they're schools that Chiyo applied to, then I.V. must stand for something like… Uh, intelligent very… Or incredible version!" concluded Kagura.

"Ah! …That might be right!" exclaimed Tomo.

"Be quiet!" shouted Yomi, "It doesn't matter what 'I.V.' is!" And she ground her knuckles into the top of her friend's head.

Chiyo gave a little depreciating laugh. "Actually," she began, "I decided not to go to an Ivy League university. They're really good, and I bet I'd learn a lot at any of them, but I decided that they were all too far away. I know it's going to be really hard to be away from home for so long no matter where I go, but I think that it'll be easier if I go to a school in the western part of the country so that I can come back to visit more easily."

"Eh? The West? Incredible! You're going to be a cowboy!" exclaimed Tomo.

Sakaki had a sudden vision of Chiyo in jeans and flannel, boots with spurs, and a ten galloon hat so big that when she tried to put it on she fell over.

Chiyo giggled. "No, I'm going to school in California. I don't think they have any cowboys in California now. At least… probably not in college."

Everyone toasted Chiyo and wished her the best of the luck in her future as child prodigy in California. Suddenly, Osaka remembered that she had brought some food for the picnic from her house when they had stopped by on the way over. She reached into the knapsack she had brought with her and pulled out half a dozen styrofoam containers and handed the first one to Chiyo with her congratulations. Though Chiyo protested that it was unnecessary for Osaka to have brought anything, she thanked her for her thoughtfulness. She cracked open the package, however, and felt entirely different about the matter when the powerfully rotten stench assaulted her senses. "_Wha-what is this!_" she coughed.

"Natto," said Osaka gleefully, already slurping up a few slimy wads. Kagura who had been with Osaka when she had picked the awful stuff up had discretely hidden her helping away the moment Osaka had handed it out. Sakaki had done the same when Chiyo discovered the contents. Tomo took a perverse enjoyment from playing with it and dangling it in the faces of the others. Only Yomi actually ate any of it. She defended Osaka saying, "Thanks, Osaka. These guys don't know what they're missing, right?"

"That's right," mumbled Osaka between bites. Then, holding her chopsticks up and assuming a learnéd air, as if quoting from some strange proverb added, "There is value even in bugs that eat knotweed."

Chiyo thought, looking down at the horrible stuff Osaka had handed to her, given a choice she might just prefer to eat knotweed herself…

**作家から　****From the Author**

I really apologize for taking so long to post this chapter. I actually had it written a little while ago, but I've been _extraordinarily _busy. I knew it was coming, but what can you do. Now though, finals are over and I've applied for work at a dozen locations around town so for the most part I've got a few days at least that are just for playing the waiting game. Plus, I'm starting to set a routine that should hold even when I find work so there should be a little more regularity to the postings… not two in three days and then three weeks to see the third. Hope there are people out there that are enjoying this because I enjoy it plenty myself. I have to say though that it is in a lot of ways harder than I ever imagined. Most of all I have difficulty knowing how much I should incorporate what I know about Japanese. I'd like to hear back mostly on this chapter as to whether all of the esoteric lingual jokes Osaka makes in my stories are enjoyable to people who might not know Japanese that well. I really enjoyed Osaka's puns from the show more than just about anything else, but I don't even have the benefit of the visual to help my audience understand what I'm talking about and I don't want to lose anyone. Also, I'd encourage people to write in about what they think because I really do tweak things here and there based on feedback. Two comments I received made me adjust things I would perhaps not have thought to include, so if you think that this story needs more action or comedy or more cowbell or whatever please really drop me a line and make a good argument and I might do my best to weave things into the story. Lastly… nobody cares about my interactive challenge from the last chapter? I've gotten no replies. Come on guys. I really want this to be a story from the community; that's the great opportunity that a site like this gives us – so the challenge from Chapter 2 still stands and I'm waiting for takers. Was it just too hard?

**説明　****Explanations**

1. In the very first episode when Osaka (then Ayumu Kasuga) is introduced Tomo says she's probably "equipped with incredible tsukkomi." This refers to Manzai comedy, a kind of Japanese stand-up in which the tsukkomi the 'straight-man' corrects a buffoon called a boke, usually by beating him. Although I don't think that Tomo ever actually refers to the boke, since she herself plays both parts over the course of the show I decided to have her refer to herself as a champion of "Manzai comedy." Manzai comedy relies heavily on a rapid pace and complex word play and is associated with the Kansai region and Osaka. By the way, is a fantastic resource for all of this stuff if you're ever curious about a Japanese term you don't know.

2. "Ohanami" literally means flower viewing. The most popular time for flower viewing is in early April around the time that school begins in Japan. Although cherry blossoms are only in full bloom for a little more than a week I think there might still be a few here and there even a few weeks later when Golden Week (a series of Japanese holidays) begins. Anybody know whether that's plausible or not?

3. A "minshuku" is a budget boarding house with Japanese-styled rooms (tatami mat floors, and screen walls) and communal baths and usually meal service for large groups.

4. The Yamanote Line is a well known train line that circumnavigates Tokyo.

5. "OL" is a Japanese word derived from the term "office lady." Basically, OL's are secretaries, file clerks, or other menial task managers who typically only work to support themselves until they can find a husband.

6. Osaka's joke here is that the Japanese bullet train, or shinkansen, has been around longer than most people think. It was "the wave of the future" in the 1960's (and in some ways still is) and the literal translation of characters, something like "new main line" was very apt. Someday though perhaps it will come to be called "old main line" which would be kokansen, or perhaps, if one did not wish to be so blunt (like when one refers to elderly _people_), toshi ga aru kansen, or literally "main line that has years."

7. Natto is fermented (aka, _rotten_) soybeans. It is slimy and smelly and disgusting, and although I've seen people eat it and try to convince me that it's good and that many Japanese really do like it, I refuse to believe it.

8. Osaka mixes up two Japanese proverbs here; one goes, "There is value in leftovers" and another, "There are even bugs that eat knotweed." The basic idea behind both of these sayings is that there is no accounting for taste or that what may be disgusting to one man is a delicacy to another.

**_次の章：テニスと野球　_****_Next Chapter: Tennis and Baseball_**


End file.
